Kate R’s comment that Edith Layton writes some good stories, though she is plagued by bad cover art, gave me an idea – what books and/or authors do you recommend as great stories, despite being afflicted with horrible cover art? Good books, with bad covers, please! List ‘em up!
(Note: I edited this post at 2.25pm EDT for clarity, as my original wording was not clear, largely due to absence of caffeine in my bloodstream -SBS)
my recommendation would be to hire an actual designer and to stop letting their five year come up with them. mehehe.
as a designer myself it pains me to no end when I see some of those covers, especially the new wave that looks more like cheap porn covers.
whoever said pictures where better than paintings?! not if they are used and abused the way they are in the romance industry lol
Uh… pretty much EVERYTHING by Loretta Chase has bad covers.
And she writes good stories, too, goldurnit!
Ditto on Loretta Chase—what were they THINKING with the cover of LORD PERFECT?
A couple others, off the top of my head:
CELTIC FIRE, by Joy Nash
DEDICATION, by Janet Mullany (NSM an offputting cover as a really bland one that doesn’t fit the contents at all)
Interesting question – I’d also be hip to know about books with AMAZING covers, but seriously bad in between.
I confess, I’ve bought books because they had fabulous covers, then discovered the book fell way short.
True nirvana is finding a great book with a great cover.
I’m not a fan of Eloisa James’ covers (although they’re not heinous, particularly because several of them are step-backs with rather uninspired paintings of houses and landscape), but the books are good.
Well, I can’t recall the book or the author, but there was a Civil War brunette on the cover of a Regency redhead story.
Ok, they fixed the cover in the newer reprints of the book but FLOWERS FROM THE STORM had an awesome one in the older versions. 🙂
The cover cracks me up. It’s sort of a romance novel cover cliche to have Fabio on the cover with his shirt somehow unbuttoned and tucked in at the same time, and usually, it has nothing to do with the content of the book. What makes me laugh is that in this case, there actually IS a scene in the book where the hero is wandering around outside in his shirt, unbuttoned and tucked in, clutching a bouquet of wildflowers. So, aside from his stupid grin, the cover is actually pretty accurate. Whodathunk?
I read this book on the recommendation of some people in a writing group I’m in who said they loved it but it was on their never-read-again list because it was just so intense. It was definitely intense. It had a lot to do with religion, and, I think, even more to do with the choice between your background and family and the man you love. I think that theme strikes home with a lot of people, especially women, because it’s something a lot of us have had to deal with: Marry the man your family wants you to marry, or marry the man you love. Even in modern times, it’s a powerful question.
I really enjoyed the story and the characterizations, and might even be convinced to read it again someday. I also liked the symbolism. There were several great symbolic moments, the “flowers from the storm” scene being one. I love it when authors, particularly romance authors, do that sort of thing. It means they trust me (the reader) enough to include it, and not spell everything out. Good stuff.
Very enjoyable read!
ETA: I remembered another one.
Ginger Hanson’s “Ransom’s Bride.”
I don’t recall much other than the cover art features a girl in a shocking pink glorified nightgown sans corset but clearly thinks this is daywear. She’s also got reddish-brown curly hair, while the heroine of the novel behind the cover is part Cherokee and has dark skin and long black hair that then gets chopped off a few chapters in to make her look like a boy. In either case, it was random and confusing.
This redhead needs to go chill on the cover of the other book, and maybe we could get the brunette over here because it’s closer to black hair and it actually is post-Civil War in Ransom’s Bride.
Candice Hern gets my vote for worst covers slapped onto fabulous books. Her AVON covers just plain SUCKED. They were clinches, the art itself is badly rendered, the costumes are WRONG, the men all have mullets. Bad Bad Bad:
Once a Gentleman
Her Scandalous Affair
Thank god NAL is taking better care of her!
Jenny Crusie had an interesting discussion of when bad covers happen to good authors on her blog…
The Anne Stuarts already mentioned were good. She’s the queen of dark dangerous heroes who actually are dark and dangerous…
Thanks for fixing my ugly links!
I know you hate the Kinsale Fabio covers, but Laura loves them because they sold so tremendously well. FFTS was the first romance cover to ever have just the hero on it (her idea, but she was thinking silhouette, not Fabio), and it hit the NYT bestseller list because of it. I couldn’t call it a bad cover if it sold like crazy…
Susan Squires’ earthy covers were…dorky. And I’ve hated almost all of Loretta Chase’s, too. Judith Ivory’s have been weird and bland or dorky and clenchy wih only a few exceptions.
All of Jennifer Crusie’s Harlequin releases.
All the first editions of Laura Kinsale’s books with Avon. They ranged from moderately awful (Midsummer Moon, The Hidden Heart) to hideous pink-laced ass-rape (Seize the Fire) to freakin’ FABIO (Flowers from the Storm, The Shadow and the Star, The Prince of Midnight).
Loretta Chase has already been mentioned, but I’m going to mention her again, because EGAD, people.
The three Anne Stuart books from the latest cover snarking (To Love a Dark Lord, A Rose at Midnight and Shadow Dance) are all very, very good. I don’t remember her Harlequin/Silhouette releases having any notably bad covers, but I’m sure at least some of them did.
Connie Brockway’s cover for Anything for Love looks like ASS, but it’s a really fun read. I might try scanning it when I get home, because I can’t seem to find an image on-line.
The step-back cover for Patricia Gaffney’s To Love and to Cherish is truly terrifying. Christy doesn’t look like a pastor in love so much as a blond gorilla in heat. Her step-back for Sweet Everlasting, on the other hand, is mercifully gorilla-free, but it features scary plastic people, and her straitlaced, former Rough Rider doctor is transformed into a shirtless douchewad with long, flowing black hair. Baby Jebus wept, and by Baby Jebus, I mean me.
The different editions of The Windflower by Laura London (Sharon and Tom Curtis) have suffered through some pretty ugly covers, too; the first edition features a close-up of two rather greasy, icky-looking people, and I dubbed the second edition “Pink buttpirate rape, ahoy!”
Lisa Kleypas has had some doozies, too. Give Me Tonight is classic clinchy pukery, ditto Only With Your Love. The step-backs for just about all her books are pretty heinous, too.
Man, I can go on and on and on about this.
I couldn’t call it a bad cover if it sold like crazy…
In terms of function, I’m sure it worked excellently. In terms of aesthetics, it worked…as an emetic.
(I also think Kinsale may be selling herself short on the role her storytelling ability played in the book’s bestselling status.)
I can’t agree enough about Flowers from the Storm. I debated about buying it for months because I hated the cover so much…even though I loved Kinsale.
Finally succumbed and loved the book, but hid the cover while reading!
Second nomination would be for a Silhouette called “Get Lucky”. I think it was by Suzanne Brockmann. It was one of a series of Navy Seal books—the hero in this one was supposed to be drop dead gorgeous.
So they put a picture of a weird, pudgy guy in dress whites on the cover.
Viewable on Amazon.
Suz Brockmann’s Get Lucky is justly famous. Suz calls it the Pillsbury Doughboy cover and will actually send you a yellow smiley-face sticker to stick over his face if you send her an explanation and a SASE. She was soooo mad!
I have to say that Laura Kinsale’s Seize the Fire cover that Candy called pink-laced ass-rape drew me in before I knew who she was. I loved it and read the book because of it, thank God. So, it takes all kinds.
I kinda like the lone male covers, truth be told. Please don’t throw me from the Bitchery midsts. I don’t know what I’d do with myself.e
I can’t agree enough about Flowers from the Storm. I debated about buying it for months because I hated the cover so much…even though I loved Kinsale.
Actually, I would put the Bare-chested Beckoning Fabio (with the lovely posies!) cover from “Flowers From the Storm” into the “So Bad That It’s Good” category. It has incredible camp appeal, IMO. I saw it at my local UBS and *had to have it*, even though I already own a copy of FFTS with a more subdued and dignified cover (the one with the house and tree beneath a stormy sky.) But I can relate to the need to hide the cover when reading the book in public. My Fabio version is for home reading only.
Is it just me of does the dork on Get Lucky look a lot like the sweet underling from that TV show Jag?
Ok, while checking out just how awful Get Lucky is I found a list of DeSalvo covers that someone loves: HERE
Am I the only woman in the world that just doesn’t GROK this guy?
Ooooooooooo, I have mastered the HTML link. Bow bitches. BOW!
Ok, I was having an Invader Zim moment there . . . but I’m better now. I swear.
>(I also think Kinsale may be selling herself short on the role her storytelling ability played in the book’s bestselling status.)
Well, considering that that book sold several TIMES what any of her previous ones did, I think she’s right to give the art dept. its credit. *g* Before then, she’d been going up steadily, but the kind of leap that book made was much greater.
However, her writing KEPT her on the lists after the Fabio-alone newness wore off on her her later covers.
I came to romance after the craze had worn off. I, too, hate the cover. But she loves it, still.
I don’t like DeSalvo. He looks more like a greasy mobster cliche than a romance hero to me.
My favorite “worst covers for best books” are for Janis Reams Hudson’s Apache series, which features six novels about the same family. The covers are 98% ridiculous and embarrassing.
First up: Travis and Daniella, the founders of this family. Fat Fabio! Also note the dayglow pink eyeshadow, cheap artfair jewelry, and the Heartfire logo (in case the picture didn’t tell you it was a romance). Apache Magic
Next up is Travis’s son, Matt, and his lady love, Angela. Unspeakably bad. Apache Promise
Third in the series is the rarest of all storylines: Angela from Book #2 is killed in the first few pages, so Matt takes up with Serena, his half-Apache, non-related step sister and gets to extra extra prove his manhood by deflowering a second virgin! Sounds EWWWW, I know, but it is one of the best I’ve ever read. The artist was remarkably consistent in rendering Matt so very mulletish and felt obligated to carry on the theme of terrible jewelry. Apache Temptation
Number four is little sister Jesse who, poor thing, married a man whose forearm-to-GIGANTIC-head proportions must be considered a birth defect. Apache Legacy
The fifth book is a fantastic cover – really. However, it irks me because the hero is a pasty whiteboy doctor and the heroine is a fullblood Apache – no half-breed here. I think the publishers shirked from having a white man with a truly dark-skinned woman on the cover. Is that what it takes to get something veering gently toward tasteful? Apache Heartsong
And lastly, some proper man tittie tinted by the glow of sunset and purple taffeta (although it’s obvious Hudson got better artists as the series progressed). Apache Flame
Although, in light of seeing Get Lucky – that just turned my stomach!
Ahh, the Windflower – I freakin’ LOVED that book. I’ll throw another Brockmann in – the original cover for Taylor’s Temptation (one of the Silhouettes) is pretty bad, and the freaky angular people who used to pose on Johanna Lindsey’s books tainted some pretty decent books.
“Am I the only woman in the world that just doesn’t GROK this guy?”
Not in the least. He’s boring to look at, IMO.
Then again, the only romance where I’ve ever taken breaks from reading to stare at the hot guy on the cover was Jo Beverley’s A Most Unsuitable Man. None of the standard cover models do anything for me.
Total classic circa 1980: Jennifer Wilde’s Love’s Tender Fury, Love Me Marietta, and When Love Commands. Majorly good stuff, especially for the time.
I could be recalling a rumour, but I think Jennifer Wilde was a pseudonym for a guy.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned the fantastically bad covers on Emma Holly’s regency romances, Beyond Seduction and Beyond Innocence.
Also, the big brain fart in the art dept. on Michelle(Albert)Jerott’s book, All Night Long. The hero is a farmer named Magnusson with red hair, and they put a black haired guy in a tux(see a farmer in a tux much?)on the cover.
Yep, Jennifer Wilde was a dude. And I thought I was the only one who liked Once More Miranda, lol.
At least some of these that we’re talking about are old covers…But Lord Perfect? There’s just no excuse. I was afraid his grease was going to come off on my hand. And put that pit down!
Here I am trying to convince non-romance readers of how great some books are – like Lord Perfect, which I just read and reviewed – and they cannot forgive the god-awful cover. It’s 2006 – c’mon people! Some of us have public transportation and offices to brave with these things!!
I have to chime in simply because it chaffs my butt so much.
Whose kitten did Loretta Chase kill to get stuck with such godawful covers? The last one, Captives of the Night has an incredible hero/villain and yet the coverboy looks like a gay art director’s idea of “What Women Want”—the brush cut hair, the scruffy facial hair…Euuuuwww!
Someone who’s been getting good covers, in my opinion, is Mary Balogh. And Amanda Quick’s doing well too.
A couple that come to mind for me (and I know you snarked about them) were Lord of the Storm and Skypirate by Justine Dare. I loved the insides but uuuggghhh are the covers bad!!!
As usual one man’s (bitches) trash is anothers treasure, cause when I see that Most Unsuitable Man cover I just think Hercules.
Candy,
Windflower is one of my all time favorites. What happend to M/M Curtis? Gone or writing under a different name?
Suzanne Brockman – generally boring covers for generally enjoyable reads,
Almost passed up Gail Dayton books because the covers appeared sagaish.
Susan Kearney – eye catching covers on boring.
Wouldn’t have read Carol Berg without first noticing the covers.
Laural K. Hamilton – an author who’s new works have eye catching covers with…polarizing stories.
>> Then again, the only romance where I’ve ever taken breaks from reading to stare at the hot guy on the cover was Jo Beverley’s A Most Unsuitable Man. None of the standard cover models do anything for me. <<
I agree with that assessment. “A Most Unsuitable Man” has one of the few male romance cover models that has ever caught my eye in a positive way.
But my absolute *favorite* cover model is the guy on the stepback of my copy of Laura Kinsale’s “The Dream Hunter”. *SIGH* OK, so he needs a shave and has a strategically placed pistol, but he’s actually fully clothed and *looks* like an aristocrat. I like his horse too.
“Is it just me of does the dork on Get Lucky look a lot like the sweet underling from that TV show Jag?”
actually, to me he looks exactly like Costello when some femme fatale was stroking his face before growing fangs… he’s even got his hands all twisted up like him! lol i can just hear him saying “mmm hmmmmmm” while twisting side to side. i’m cracking myself up here.
(did i mention i love abbot & costello? except for Africa Screams *shudder*. but i digress.)
i sure do wish Pino was still doing covers. or is he? i love his old Amanda Quick art. he has a website at http://www.pinoart.com/showcase.htm & i’d buy “The Professor”, if i could afford it. he reminds me of Liam Neeson; not my typical hottie, but he’s got Wessonality.
On the cover of Mary Jo Putney’s “The Spiral Path,” the hero and heroine are actually levitating on the grass.
I don’t know where 9 out of 10 romance publishers are finding their blind-ass cover artists, but kudos to them for not actually wasting money on such trivialities.
Going over to the romantic SF side of the genre, Lois McMaster Bujold had some incredible bad luck with covers on the early Vorkosigan series books. Even worse, she’s had international bad luck with her covers. Some of the German ones…well, ack.
I hate romance covers almost universally. I wouldn’t read them for years because I thought they’d be crap. I like covers like Jenny Crusie’s with little dogs and cup cakes and erotic books with artfull black and white body parts. Lord Perfect was just an embarrassment on a great book.
I can’t believe no one’s touched the ‘Pull My Finger’ Viking on the cover of Sandra Hill’s The Bewitched Viking (Umm…unlike Tonda, I don’t have a freakin’ clue how to put in HTML links, but you can see the cover here: http://www.ereader.com/files/products/000/00/51/61/cover/large.jpg
Anyways, fun little book, really really laughable cover.
You asked me which Edith Layton should you read? I think Love in Disguise is the first I read, and I promptly went in search of her back list. Plus the bonus for this title—the cover is super cheesy.
Lady of Spirit, a trad regency, is also on my keeper shelf.
“the only romance where I’ve ever taken breaks from reading to stare at the hot guy on the cover was Jo Beverley’s A Most Unsuitable Man”
Wow. Just, Wow.
Robin Schone’s first cover on A Lady’s Tutor was very good, IMHO. Suggestive, but not a lot of bare skin. That cover made me buy the book without even looking inside first. The reissue is public transportation safe, but not nearly as sexy…
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0821769820/ref=ase_artandlies-20/002-5681523-4145657?s=books&v=glance&n=283155&tagActionCode=artandlies-20